[Present: on base – Michelle’s room]
Allison just stared wide-eyed at the rest of the team. “So…that’s how this team started? Honestly, I’m not even sure what to say. It was… just… wow”.
“I can’t say I didn’t expect such a reaction, but honestly, that’s the first time this team has ever actually told the story. You should feel special” Michelle replied.
“Well, Aaron wasn’t mentioned in the story. Did he know”?
“Yeah, I was there. I was monitoring the communications of both sides. I was the one responsible for routing most the communications and setting up inter-team communication. I kept silent the entire time, but what I did was helpful. I just didn’t convey everything as I should’ve, which is why I’m on the team. I was underground through most of it, I saw pretty much everything in the end” Aaron answered.
“So, you remain silent even when we’re under attack huh, real reliable” Allison glared at him.
Aaron motioned for her to come to him, yet Michelle was still clinging to her. Aaron got up and walked over to the bed, placing himself in range of a whisper only Michelle and Allison could hear. “I have some suspicions. We have tomorrow off as well. I need to take a trip into town for some shopping, you’re invited…”
Allison looked confused, Michelle simply nodded. “Got it”.
“Alright fuckers, any other stories to share while we’re here”? Michelle looked around the room.
Nobody seemed to have any questions or issues. It was at that point that everyone was immediately kicked from the room, except Allison and Emilia.
The pair just both looked at Michelle with blank stares. Allison spoke first. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable here anymore. Is there a reason why I’ve been detained”?
“Maaaaybe” Michelle grinned.
“I need an adult…” Allison whimpered
“If that was a small joke, I’ll have to punish you…” Michele said in a teasing voice, complemented by a matching evil grin.
Allison broke out into a cold sweat, Emilia simply burst out laughing. “OK, you’ve got a reason for us to be here right? It’s not like you wanted an all-girls threesome… right”?
“Oh, aren’t you a smart one…”Michelle licked her lips as she turned towards Emilia.
“Wait… but… this is…” Emilia was completely flustered at the unexpected turn of events. Michelle could finally maintain the farce no longer and fell to the ground in laughter.
“Holy shit! You should’ve seen the looks on your faces, fucking priceless. Oh, thank you for brightening my day after that story”! Michelle tackled them both to the floor and hugged them tightly. “I’m crazy, and slightly curious, but c’mon, even I’m not that forward”
“Ok, then why are we here”? Allison groaned.
“You sound disappointed. Did you want to be punished” Michelle winked.
“No! I’m just wondering what you have up your sleeve, or what you want to tell us” Allison shouted.
Emilia nodded in agreement with Allison. “Yeah, as funny, or frightening, as that may have been, why are we here”?
“Emilia, you have your default left arm correct? The one with the terminal”?
“Yeah, why”?
“Hold out your hand” Michelle reached out to accept the as of yet unmoved hand.
Emilia timidly extended her hand. Michelle glanced at it briefly before opening and operating the terminal at Emilia’s wrist. She released Emilia’s hand soon after.
Emilia inspected her wrist and the terminal. “There’s something else running. What the hell is it? What did you do”?
“Hmm, you never read your own manual. Most people don’t come with those you know. Might wanna take advantage of that. I turned on the listening interceptor”.
“What the fuck is that”? Emilia asked with a raised eyebrow.
Michelle explained, “It’s a handy little addition that sends out pulses and noise to scramble listening devices. It nullifies both analog and digital recorders. It can also be used locally to fuck up phone calls. Not many people know that. Keep that under wraps, OK”?
“Will do. So, what’s up, now that you’ve negated listening devices, trolled us, and kept us here”? Emilia questioned.
“Well, it’s a lot harder to prove the things I’m going to do to you if no one hears it. Just kidding. I’m planning a team outing to town tomorrow. We have some shopping to do, and assuming you take Jesse up on his offer, you may have a date”. Michelle calmly explained things while Emilia nodded, freezing up at the word “date”. Michelle promptly noticed, “Oh, what’s this? Emi has a jump-scare at the word ‘date’”?
“No, it’s nothing like that! I just…” Emilia tried to defend herself, but it was utterly useless. Fortunately for her, Michelle and Allison made the situation easier for her.
“So, date aside, what the hell are we supposed to be doing? Also, what was Aaron talking about? I can assume the two are related, right”?
Michelle replied, “Yeah, they are related. I’ll explain a bit more tomorrow. In any case, I just wanted you two to know ahead of time, since there’s a good chance Allison will drive, and Emilia is our protection should something stupid happen in town. Given how. things have been lately, I wouldn’t put it past whoever is responsible for the stupid events that seem to follow us”.
“What do you mean by ‘Emilia’s our protection’? We aren’t armed off base”?
This time it was Emilia who nodded. “For the most part, we aren’t. I’m the only one who currently has stealth weaponry to that degree. Jesse keeps some small explosives on him, and Michelle has her knives, but most of us don’t carry firearms just so we don’t have to deal with security stuff and metal detectors in stores. You know, annoying crap. David and Jessica are fine as long as the threats are melee. Javon, Mark, and Aaron, are pretty much useless”.
“And you guys put that much thought into these things? Do things happen on a regular basis? This is honestly a bit frightening”.
“No, not really. It’s just good to think ahead a bit in this case” Michelle stated as a matter-of-fact.
“I can’t say you’re wrong, but wait, you guys, don’t argue or try to kill each other in town”? Allison asked with a surprised face.
“Not very much? Normally we can control ourselves around civilians. Now running into an agent from another team is a different story” Emilia answered.
“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense. So, you had us stay to tell us this? Why didn’t you just tell everyone at once”?
“I didn’t want everyone to know about Emilia’s interceptor. So far, I think only Mark, Jesse, myself, and now you, know if it. I decided to include you since you two share a room and get along well”.
Allison looked at Michelle suspiciously. “And you didn’t want anyone else to know… why”?
“Well duh, the purpose of such a device is completely defeated if it becomes common knowledge. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure that out. By the way, I’ll need you to go and inform everyone of the shopping trip personally, but one at a time. Take Emilia with you”.
“But…” Allison whined.
“If a genius asks you to do something simple yet with a specific level of detail, it’s probably best not to question it, right? It kinda hurts that you don’t trust me” Michelle said, faking tears.
“Fine, lets go Ems. I didn’t expect Michelle to be able to cry on command” Allison muttered as she grabbed Emilia’s wrist and walked off.